Improved appaeatus foe feeding sceew-blanks



@attrib tatre I ateatffi.

ELIJAH S. PIERCE, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

Letters Patent No. 7 0,257, dated October 29,1867. l

IMPROVBD APPARATS POR PEEDING SCREW-BLANES.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, ELIJAH S. PIERCE, of Hartford, in the county ot' Hartford, and State of Connecticut, have invented an improved Feeding Apparatus for delivering Screw-Blanks or other similar articles into a5 machine; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying Ydrawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon;

Figure l is a side viewV of the improved apparatus.

Figure 2 is a frontview of the same.

Figure 3 is a view from the insideof the rear halt` of fig. 1,'or the right-hand halt' of fig. 2.

Like letters in the several figures indicate like parts.

My invention consists in foiming the channel-way, through which the blanks pass, of a number of eorruga-V tions or-zigzag planes, so that where the blanks pass around a curve, as B C, they will be forced to follow the channel in radial lines, or nearly so, and be delivered in af proper position at the end of the curve. This is accomplished by making the corrugations in the direction it is desired the blank shall lie at each point in its passage through the channel-way to the machine. The grooves or corrugations of'the opposite sides. of the channel are made to tit into one another, so that the blank can only line in the same direction as the corrugations, and cannot lieanglingwith or across anyone of the ridges. This forces the blank to follow the desired direction. Y

In the drawings, AB C is a channel for conducting blanks from a hopper or otherv receptacle to the machine. It' it be, as ordinarily constructed, a plain channeL'sustaining the blanks only by the heads, the tendency is for them to hang vertically, and when it is desired to have them pass around a curve, as B C, from the position S, and drop into the machine in a horizontal position, at S', they are apt to clog and interfere with each other when in a continuous row, and wlienpassed through singly wili drop into thc machine point foremost instead of lying horizontally. Vith the corrugations placed in radial lines, as shown at b e, in the drawings, the blank must in all cases pass around the curve in a radial direction. If the point hangs down it will strike against the inside end ofthe rst corrugation a, and be there detained until the head reaches the same groeve, when the blank will pass along to the next corrugation or groove. If the head gets in advance, it will in its `turn be delayed until the point is suiciently in advance to attain a radial position, whenthe blank will move `forward. i

The corrugations may be made, as shown in the drawings, of a series of planes, a b c, in the direction of the circle, connected by diagonal planes fl efg, or the channel may be made curved or serpentine. It can also be made so that the blank shall retain a radial position at all points, or so that the blank shall take any other desi-red position in different parts of the curve I3 C.

What I claim asvmy invention, and desire to secure by'L-etters Patent, is-

1. A zigzag or serpentine channehway, formed ot' corrugated sides, substantially as herein described and for thc purpose set forth.

2. Thcdevices a I: c d efg, for maintaining screw-blanks or other similar articles in any desired position while passing through a channel or groove, substantially as herein specified. l E. S. PIERCE.

Witnesses:

- L. WooDnoL'sn,

Tune. G. ELLIS. 

